GOP Rep. Rodney Alexander retiring

Six-term Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) announced on Tuesday that he won’t seek reelection in 2014 – and blamed Washington’s dysfunction for his departure.

“Rather than producing tangible solutions to better this nation, partisan posturing has created a legislative standstill,” Alexander said in a statement. “Unfortunately, I do not foresee this environment to change anytime soon. I have decided not to seek reelection, so that another may put forth ideas on how to break through the gridlock and bring about positive change for our country.”

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Alexander, whose district spanned the northeast portion of the state, switched from the Democratic Party in 2004. He had been regarded as a lock for reelection, after capturing 77 percent of the vote in his 2012 reelection.

His 5th District seat is almost certain to remain in Republican hands. Mitt Romney won 61 percent of the vote there in November.

In his statement, Alexander wrote: “I thank the great people of Louisiana’s Fifth Congressional District for the trust they’ve placed in me to be their voice in Washington, D.C. I cannot express what a tremendous honor it has been, and from the bottom of my heart, I am eternally grateful.

“Thomas Jefferson once wrote, ‘There is a fullness of time when men should go, and not occupy too long the ground to which others have a right to advance.’”